The Pig 'n Whistle was originally a chain of restaurants and candy shops, founded by John Gage in 1908.[4]:7 He opened his first location in Downtown Los Angeles, next to the now-demolished third city hall in the 200 block of South Broadway.[4]:7

The Hollywood location of the Pig 'n Whistle was first opened in 1927[4] next to The Egyptian Theatre.[5] The building housing the new restaurant cost $225,000 and featured "[c]arved oak rafters, imported tiles, artistically wrought grilles and balcony and great panelled fresco paintings from Don Quixote."[5] It was frequented by such celebrities as Spencer Tracy, Shirley Temple and Howard Hughes.[6] The original Hollywood location closed down after World War II[7] and its distinctive wooden furniture, decorated with hand-carved whistle-playing pigs,[7] was sold to Miceli's Italian Restaurant, located around the corner at 1646 Las Palmas Avenue, where it remains to the present day.[8]

By the late 1990s the location housed a fast-food pizza restaurant, and all that remained of the original tenant was a bas-relief pig on the front of the building.[8] In 1999, British restaurant operator Chris Breed remodeled the building, recovering the spectacular original ceiling ornamentation, and re-opened the restaurant.[7]

The restaurant name originates from two Old English words, piggin, a lead mug, and wassail, a wine drunk during yuletide.[6]